What is bashing? Well, it is different things to different people. Some people consider bashing to be simply driving around in the backyard. Others, people like us, like to get more extreme by catching enormous airtime and popping block long wheelies. For the more hardcore crowd, ARRMA released the Outcast 6S BLX Stunt Truck. The Outcast was specifically designed to pull off double backflips, to hold long wheelies, and to land those giant triple jumps. While the Outcast has been on the market for a while now, we are just now finishing up our evaluation. Is the Outcast a worthy machine for extreme bashing? Is it really as fun as it looks? You know the drill, read on to find out…
From: ARRMA
Direct Link: Outcast 6S BLX Stunt Truck
Review By: Cubby
Pictures By: Tim Mohr
Specs:
RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electic
Waterproof: Yes
Scale: 1/8
Length: 21.26″
Width: 18.15″
Wheelbase: 12.91″
Weight: 10lbs 11oz
Motor: ARRMA BLX 2050kV brushless
Speed Controller: ARRMA BLX185 150 amp
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: Tactic TTX300 2.4GHz
Differential: Gear type
Driveshafts: Metal
Shocks: Metal, oil filled
Servo Saver: In steering rack
Screws: Metric, hex
Spur/Pinion Pitch: Mod 1
Bearings: Yes
Tires: dBoots Back-Flip
Battery: Not included
Part Number: #ARAD84SS
Bashing Specs:
Wheelie on demand: Yes
Backflip off ramps: Oh heck ya!
Stability Control: No
Sound Module: No
Self-Righting: No
FPV: No
Top Speed (measured by BSRC on 6S Duratrax LiPo): 52 mph
Runtime (measured by BSRC on 6S Duratrax LiPo): 21 minutes
Street Price: $499
Primary Competition: While other 1/8th scale trucks are competition to the Outcast, its primary foe is the Tekno MT410 kit.
What’s Needed To Complete: You will need four AA cells for the Tactic radio and between 4 to 6S of LiPo batteries for the truck. You will also need a battery charger. Other than that, the Outcast comes pre-built and ready to jam.
Build Quality: Our Bash Crew didn’t find any faults with the assembly of the Outcast. The shocks were not leaking and properly filled, plus we didn’t find any loose or stripped screws.
Test Drivers: We enlisted Robbie G., T-Money, THE RC Kid, and yours truly to drive (read- abuse) the Outcast.
Test Venues: St. Louis Dirtbuners 8th scale off-road track, our ever so uber Costco parking lot, and a pair of local parks.
Set-up Notes: Stock, more stock, and loads of even more bone stock. To give new buyers an honest evaluation out of the box we didn’t change a thing on our Outcast. Power was provided by a pair of 3S Duratrax Onyx series LiPo batteries wired in series, while a Duratrax Onyx 260 took immaculate care of the charging duties.
Turning: While shorter in wheelbase than the other trucks in the ARRMA 1/8th line-up, it corners in the same manner. The front wheels easily plant at corner entry and stay that way through the apex. Whether they remain planted after the apex depends on how much throttle you give the truck. Give it too much and the front wheels will lift off the ground, resulting in no steering. But, give it just the right amount and the front wheels will complete the arch as requested. The rear of the truck tends to be a bit loose, but not overly so. We found the Outcast to work best in tight 180s, but it can work well in fast sweepers too if you don’t push it too hard.
Jumping: The Outcast is quite reactive to trigger inputs. If you are racing, that would work against you, but when going for all out craziness, it is exactly what the doctor ordered. When you pound the trigger to full speed ahead, the Outcast backflips like a champ, when you slam the trigger to full brake the front of the truck drops like an anchor. The set-up on the Outcast does indeed make it easy to pull off double and triple backflips, just as it makes it easy to pull off front flips. When not stunting, the suspension and chassis geometry did a solid job of launching the truck flat, but we found it a bit softly suspended for skyscraper landings. On “normal” sized landings the shocks did a good job of soaking up g-forces, but on the really big stuff we wished it had come set-up a bit firmer to keep the chassis from bottoming so hard.
Bumps/Whoops: The short wheelbase (and giant power) on the Outcast did cause things to get squirrely when attacking gnarly sections at speed. It did a fine job on our local 8th scale track, but when we took it to a park and hit a crazy section of deep sand whoops at speed, the Outcast skipped around more than longer trucks like its brother the Kraton. If you are stunt truck’n, hitting rain ruts at 60 mph certainly isn’t going to be your biggest priority, but from what we saw, it soaked up 90% of the gnarliness we put it through like a champ.
On-Road: Do people stunt on pavement? Of course they do! The Outcast is pretty crazy when bashed on-road. You can ride endless wheelies with it, or you can simply have fun making insane speed passes. It does tend to flip when turned quickly at speed, but otherwise, it just might be the funnest truck we’ve ever driven on the street.
Grass: Our review truck did a stellar job of mowing through grass. The stock moto style tires love to chew up grass and the BLX power system was never left us asking for more wattage. If the only place you drive is a backyard filled with grass, you will love the Outcast.
Tires: The dBoots Back-Flip motocross styled tires did a fine overall job for our test drivers. Of course they are at their best in loamy soil, but also excelled in grass. On-road they did tend to wear quickly, but then there are very few tires that can live for long on a 6S powered stunt truck when subjected to pavement. The stock foams are slightly on the soft side, which worked well on soft dirt, but not so well on pavement.
Power: Oh yes, shall we talk about that 6S BLX power system for a moment? Power is super strong right off the bottom, perfect for launching those front wheels skyward. The Outcast rips through the mid-range, while the top-end just seems to keep on pulling forever. It tops out at just over the 50 mph mark, which is easier to do than on some of the other trucks on the market thanks to its tires which don’t expand as much. The dBoots tires do grow some at speed, but they don’t become total pizza cutters, thus making the truck fairly controllable at warp speeds.
Radio: The Outcast comes with a Tactic 2.4GHz transmitter, and that isn’t a bad thing. It’s one of the better RTR radios on the market with outstanding range and zero glitching. Its ergonomics tend to fit a wide variety of hands and the foam covered wheel was comfy enough to us.
Broken Parts: The Outcast has become well known for its durability, and ours held up well. Somehow, the first thing we managed to break was blowing some teeth off the pinion. We have to say that is the first pinion that we’ve managed to destroy in a long time. Later in testing we broke a rear shock end after a particularly nasty crash.
Misc Notes:
We are big fans of the aluminum servo arm that ARRMA has been including on some of their trucks.
The stock servo is very good for a RTR unit. It has enough speed and power to satisfy 90% of the user base out there.
The Outcast comes with rubber retainers for the body clips. Did we mention how much we hate losing body clips? That isn’t a problem on the Outcast.
The wheelie bar is set about right. It does sit the truck at a high angle for wheelies, but it remains mostly out of the way when going around a track or hitting jumps. Very nice.
While some people can’t wrap their head around the “stunt truck” concept, it really is quite simple. It is a design optimized for back-flipping, wheelies, and catching big air. Basically, it is just another genre of the many that our hobby already has. As a stunt truck, the Outcast does an outstanding job. It is indeed easier to pull wheelies with, or double/triple back-flips, than other 1/8th scalers on the market. And while its primary competition, the MT410 comes as a kit, the Outcast comes completely pre-built and RTR, making it that much easier/faster to get outdoors and to start having fun.
Best Mod: The first mods we would do to our Outcast would be heavier shock oil and stiffer springs. Call us weird, but we love catching big air and stiffer suspension would help soak up 30 foot high landings without bottoming out so much.
Summary:
A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific
Time To Bash: B We had no problems getting our truck up and going. Pop four batteries into the transmitter and Velcro up a big LiPo, then you are ready to tear up (literally) your local bash spot.
Workability: B Hex hardware and a standard 8th scale layout make the Outcast a pleasure to work on.
Car Show Rating: A Our test drivers liked the old school, yet ultra aggressive, look of the Outcast’s body. Furthermore, the motocross inspired tires and black wheels are straight up lit.
Bash-A-Bility: B The ARRMA 1/8th scalers are known for toughness and the Outcast proved it can take a hit and keep on trucking.
Fun Factor: A Is the Outcast the most fun we’ve ever had? That is a hard to tell without driving it back-to-back with a number of other trucks, but we do know our test drivers had giant smiles on their faces and were VERY reluctant to give up the transmitter when it was someone else’s turn. All in all, we think the better question is, how can you NOT have fun while driving the Outcast?
Handling: B For what it was designed for, the Outcast handles extremely well. While a bit softly suspended, it turns and jumps quite well.
Value: A At a price point of $499, we feel like you are getting a giant bang for the buck with the Outcast. From the quality of the plastic, to the BLX 6S power system, to simply having it come pre-built, when you cut the check you are getting a whole lot in return.
Parts Availability: C Like pretty much every vehicle that isn’t a Traxxas, the Outcast has solid parts support on-line but you won’t find parts for it in every local hobby shop.
BigSquid Rating: B+ If you are an extreme basher, we can’t see why you wouldn’t put the ARRMA Outcast in your rc garage. It does an excellent job of doing all the gnarly tricks that a hardcore basher does on a daily basis, plus it is tough enough to live through all sorts of abuse. If you haven’t picked up one yet, cut the check, the Outcast is perfect for the extreme bashing side of our hobby.
